War on Straws

Earlier this year, for the month of May, my hubby and I (Tamara) tracked and tried to reduce our non-recyclable waste I did my best to avoid single-use plastic and to be more mindful of this when I shopped and ate out.

Plastic cutlery and straws have always been a sore spot in our house because I will always bring them home with me and reuse them till they fall apart or my hubby chucks them. My hoarding tendencies drive him mad and soon there was more plastic cutlery in our house than real cutlery!

Straws are such a small thing – but they can’t be recycled easily and straws find their way into our seas and oceans, causing havoc to the sea life. Many moons ago, I bought a metal straw from a Green Fair at Victoria Park for the grand total of £1! I love it and it has pride of place in my kitchen and it even came with a teeny little brush cleaner thingy to stop it going manky. So, refusing straws for one month would be easy…right? Uh…not quite!

First, most of the time it didn’t even occur to me that I would be given a straw with my drink. So I would be surprised when I received one and then would sheepishly use it anyway. Then, I would remember about the straw after I ordered a drink. And finally, towards the end, I would remember while ordering to state ‘No Straw thanks’ and then would be enraged when 75% of the time, my drink would arrive with a straw in it anyway!

Once, I was out for lunch with a friend at Koh Thai Tapas on Elm Grove and was super chuffed with myself for remembering to say no straw at the point of ordering. My delicious ice-filled cocktail arrived without a straw. Yess! I am saving the world one straw at a time! I looked at my drink. It was a very tall glass. My friend looked at it. She took her straw out of her drink and gave it to me. I shook my head defiantly. Never! I shall not yield! I will not be defeated in my mission. I tried to sip my cocktail. My nose bumped into the ice. I sighed and took her straw! I then took her straw home with me and added it to the ‘Bag of Shame’ – what we called the bag that contained all of May’s non-recyclable waste (apart from food waste…cause, Ewww!).

Though I lost that small battle, my straw vendetta continues. While I love my metal straw, I find it bangs and clanks in my glass at night whenever I sip my water. I was determined to solve this niche first world problem. I turned to my mate Google and bought myself some bamboo straws. Four for £5. Not as cheap as my original metal straw but not too expensive. My friend christened them with a number of gin and tonics – she said they made her feel like she was on holiday! I used one the next day with water and I hated the texture of the bamboo straw in my mouth and it made my water taste weird. Sigh! Maybe I will have to only drink gin and then I’ll be fine with them! So my war on straws continues…

Emma is a queer British freelance writer specializing in politics, travel, and entertainment. Barack Obama (yes, that one) follows her on Twitter and she’s never been sure why. She takes her coffee seriously and wears odd socks because life’s too short.

2 Comments

Rosie Blackburn says:

I’ve been harbouring an ambition to make Portsmouth the first straw free city in the UK / world (?)… I know what you mean about straws turning up even when you ask to not have one – putting one in a glass seems to be a reflex action for bar staff. Though what about paper ones? I bought some a while ago and remembered we had them as kids.

I’m going to raise this with my Portsmouth Zero Waste pals – an offshoot of Green Drinks – all very welcome, look us up on Facebook – to discuss what we could do (get the uni on board and have students (who frequent bars more than most??) leading on just saying no, to straws??

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